Odds and Ends

I don't really have anything to blog about so I thought I would post some pictures I have taken over the past few days. I thought they were funny and hopefully you will too.


This is my first homemade mother's day present from Isabella. She made it during story time at the library today.


Maybe this is really dorky but I thought this sheet of stamps was really neat. If you look really close you can see the USA 37 all over the picture. Those are the stamps.


I thought Isa was going to help my fold the laundry but she really wanted to go workout. Here she is trying to put my underwear on her head.


Just when I was going to step in and help her she got them over her head. We fixed them for her.


Then the running shorts. I guess she has seen me get ready for running a lot.

The Best of Both Worlds

I take Isabella to a place called the children's playhouse about 4 times a week. It is a really neat place for kids to play. It is in a remodeled house. The downstairs area is filled with lots of different play centers, from doll houses to a kitchen to a train/building room. The upstairs is an art area with four or five art activities that change weekly. There is also a fenced in playground right outside for the warm nice days. Needless to say, Isabella loves it. She even knows how where it is and how to get there. I have to go out of my way running errands so we wont drive past it becuase if we do she yells out "house, house" and points to it.
Mondays are usually rough for us because the playhouse is not open. She has another playgroup we do on Mondays at the wellness center but she would rather be at the playhouse any day. Well, today her wish came true. We had our wellness center playgroup at, you guessed it, the playhouse. She was really cute about it and tried to show her WC friends all her favorite spots to play in the playhouse. She looked like such a big kid. Here are a few pictures of her playing. I couldn't get many because she doesn't like for me to follow her when she is at he playhouse. I guess I'm not cool enough to be seen with her.


Here she is at the beginning in "circle time"


Showing the other kids how to get the shapes out


Here's the red piece...

The blue piece...where's the yelllow one?

Found it!

She found this little man that has a red baseball hat just like hers

My Battle Wound

After the Myrtle Beach Marathon my Mom was kind enough to get me a pedicure. Which I loved. Then about a week after the Turtle Tromp I changed the polish. My big toe was a little sore and I would see a light shade of blue but I wasn't worried. I took that polish off last night and found this.





I don't think it will fall off though. It still seems pretty well attached. At least I hope it is.

Turtle Tromp

Now for the other thing I have been working on. As most people know I was more than disappointed with my myrtle beach marathon. At first I was ok with it but then it started bothering me more and more. On the way home dad and I started talking about finding other marathons that were close by in march that we could run. When we finally got online to find one we came up with a better idea. We decided to have the first ever Turtle Tromp Greenway Marathon. We scheduled it for march 5th. Yes that is two weeks after the Myrtle beach marathon and yes we are crazy.

I started planning our race right away. We had to verify the distance markers on the greenway first to make sure we went the distance. I wanted this to be as much like a race as it could be so I started looking for race numbers I could get printed. I later found out I would have to get a minimum of 50 printed. I was a little discouraged by this but decided I would email the owner of Run For Your Life and see if we could buy some from him. Run for your life is the organization that runs most of our races. When he read my email about what happened in Myrtle Beach he was more than happy to donated two number 1 bib numbers for dad and I to wear.
(the early numbers are usually reserved for professionals to wear)I was really excited when we got them in the mail. I then checked the weather. It was calling for a wintry mix on the 5th which again disappointed me but we still decided to go for it hoping for the best.

I wasn't really nervous as the day approached because I was so used to the course. We were planning on running it on our three mile training loop (9 loops) which was really comforting. Josh and I went tot he cabin to pick up dad for the race we were fresh and ready to go.



We drove down to the greenway and a little bit after 11:00am we were off and running. I guess I should mention that we had gotten about a foot of snow during the week of our race. I had gone and looked at the part of the track I could see form my car and it looked fine. I was wrong. We rounded the first corner of the track right before .5 miles and saw about 30 yards of slush and snow on the track. We kind of looked at each other and grinned, thinking 'what have we gotten ourselves into?' . We didn't stop though and ran through it. Well, if you can call what we did running then we ran. It was more like a run/slide/skate. We got near .75 miles and saw about 50-75 yards of deep puddles. We decided to run in what we thought was grass. It was in actually more snow and mud. It was then relatively clear until 20 yards before our 1.5 mile turn around when we had to run through slush and snow again. Since we were doing nine loops that meant we were going to have to run through all that again 17 more times. We then thought this was a really bad idea but we still kept going.

The first three miles were ok but by mile 6 I had to pee really bad. One of the problems with this was the bathrooms at the greenway are closed until April so I had to pee in the open but when you gotta go you gotta go. We then started running again. Since I didn't want to have to do that every 6 miles I did my best to turn off the nerves that told me I needed to go for the next 4 hours. To my surprise enough it worked. The weather was pretty good except for the wind gusts of about 20 mph until the beginning of mile 9. Josh and Isa came by to cheer us on at the end of mile 9 which was greatly appreciated. Right after the left it started sleeting with 30mph gusts. I looked at dad and said" I'll be ok with a greenway half marathon if this keeps up" luckily it stopped in about five minutes and turned to rain. The middle is kind of a blur because I was just trying to keep moving. We had about every kind of weather imaginable. We really did have sun, sleet, snow, rain, and A LOT of wind. It got up to 40mph at some points. I have never heard of a marathon with water hazards before but I guess there is a first for everything. Part of it was even a trail marathon since we had to run off the path so much.

Mentally and physically it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be but I know I couldn't have done it alone. Josh always says that my biggest strength in running is I'll go wherever my dad goes and I guess this proves his point. Dad and I didn't talk about how far we had gone or how far we had to go until we had three loops left. We just had the occasional "you doin' ok?" or small talk. Time went by fast considering how long we ran but in the end we did it. We actually got to run a whole marathon.

When we finished josh, Mom , Samantha and Isabella were there waiting for us. The had a finish line tape up and a congratulations banner. Mom also brought little cannons full of streamers. It was really great.














We were so relieved to be done


Neither of us could stop smiling, or maybe it was wincing


We had to keep moving so we wouldn't cramp

What is even cooler is that we ran it in 4:53:27 (give or take a second) which is exactly what Abby and Terra got at myrtle beach. AFter we finished we went over to the cabin and got in the hottub with isa.


It felt so good!!

I'm sure josh will remind me of things I forgot to saw so I'll be adding to this post for a while.

My New Addiction

Hello my name is Megan and I'm addicted to celebrity blogs. My sister Terra recently opened my eyes to a new blog. As a young girl one of my favorite memories is watching start trek the next generation with my dad. I think terra and I were the most excited when it would come on TV. You might think it is a little weird for teen and preteen girls to come running to see a science fiction show
but since I was this preteen girl, let me explain. Wil Wheaton(Wesley Crusher). He was the son of Dr. Beverly Crusher and my favorite character. He was adorable. When the show ended and I knew I would not be seeing him anymore I was pretty upset. I watched the reruns for years afterward but eventually let go. Terra on the other hand, apparently being a more devote fan than I, kept her obsession and found his blog. She sent the link to me and now I am totally hooked. Not only to his blog but to his friend's blogs too. What I like about it is that they are actually updating the site themselves and will respond to your comments. It is really neat to see what these people are really like. Granted most of them are "B" list actors but that is what I love about it. Their lives are still realistic. They talk about their families, pets, pasts, and whatever is happening to them. It's not just about their movies or shows and how famous they are. I just can't get enough.

Josh just put a link to Wil's page on his blog but I'm gonna put one here too. I will also add links to any other blogs I come across that I really like.

WIL IS GOING TO BE ON CSI ON MARCH 10TH AT 9PM SO EVERYBODY WATCH!!!

It's Over

I must admit I am having a hard time adjusting to the marathon being over. I think I have post traumatic stress or something. The only other thing that I can think of the has been more stressful was having Isabella and when I did that I got a cute baby for it. I was so busy with her that it kept my mind off of what just happened to me. It was a very interesting experience. Since it is still pretty hard for my to talk about I wont go into details here. I will just say it did not go they way I wanted it to.

As most of you know I took Isabella with me. She did really well. The car ride took almost 7 hours and she only got fussy a couple of times. We went to eat at a really cool restaurant on Friday night. It had televisions in every booth so you could watch TV if you wanted. They also had a special area to sit if you had kids that surrounded and indoor playground so your kids could play while you eat. It was great! I was able to eat without Isa leaning on me the whole time and she made some new friends. A little girl named Katherine really liked her and carried her around like a doll all night, which Isa didn't mind one bit.

I was surprised I wasn't more nervous . I think it was because I have been sick of going on two weeks now so my body was focused on that. None of the people in the marathon room got any sleep that night because of the noise and sicknesses. My sinuses hurt so bad my teeth were throbbing. We got up at 4:30 am to eat breakfast and go catch the shuttle to the start. It was 29 degrees at guntimne and it felt every bit that cold.




For the first three miles we had to dodge clothes. Once you warmed up you didn't need as many layers as you started with so people would just throw them down in the road so you had to watch out. This came in handy for those who underdressed because you could just pick something up to use. I am not going to talk about any detail for the rest of the race but I will tell you Dad and I met a really cool lady named carol that was for team in training. That is a leukemia foundation running team, it's pretty big nationwide. Her boyfriend and daughter rode their bikes along the route and did cheers on the side of the road about every two miles or so. It was really cute. I just couldn't wait for it to be over and eventually it was. Mom was really sweet and got us all pedicures after the race. It felt really good. They rub your legs and everything. It was a nice finish to the morning.


Here we are waiting for the shuttle after the race




Dad even got one (without the color)


I think he really liked the leg rub


It really helped him relax:)

After we got back to the hotel mom told me how Isabella had spotted the beach while they were waiting for the shuttle but they had not had time to go see it so I thought I would give mom a break and Isabella a little treat so I took her to play on the beach. She has only been to the beach once before and she was six months old so this was her first real time and she loved it. She found her first sea shell and everything.


She had a little trouble walking in the sand at first


Here she is trying to figure out what this is


Then she decided to test it out


Yep, just as cold as it was at first:)


She had to find just the right one


Here it is

I was pretty sore when I crossed the finish line but not nearly as sore I as I would be the next day when it took me five minutes to get out of bed and even then I couldn't stand up straight. Once I was up and moving I could get around a bit better. We spent some more time on the beach which Isabella loved. katilin was there this time so she had a blast.




It took her about five minutes to trip and fall face first into a puddle. she was less than pleased


She ended up in Katilin's coat


We still couldn't keep her out of the water though


She kept destroying everything Katilin built


She told on me once Grandma and Grandpa got there


Aunt Abby saving her from the waves


Here we are in our race shirts

Everyone was pretty tired and we all had a good drive ahead of us so we went home after the beach. Isa did great on eh way home to. Well, until we dropped dad off at his car which was still about 45 minutes from home so we had to come up with another way to entertain her and this seemed to work.



So I have officially completed the distance challenge and should be getting my jacket soon. They just have to verify my marathon and order them. It really feels weird. I haven't ran all week. I'm not really sure what to so with myself. Well, that's not entirely true. I have been planning a little something but you will have to wait until later for details.

I'm Still Here......Kind Of

I realized today that it has been over a month since my last post and I can't really think of anything to say. I'm sure someone is thinking that something must have happened to me recently. I'm sorry to say that nothing really has happened to me. It seems all I do is clean, eat and run. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE running, it's just that I realized that it is making me lose my blogging edge. The whole reason I started this thing was to complain about people and or things that annoy me. It is just that I burn so much energy running that I am to tired to notice other people. Well, that is not exactly true. I notice I just don't seem to care long enough to get home and write about it. I'm just baffled by this. Josh tells me a lot how high strung I am when people annoy me so I just always thought I would be. Shouldn't these two aspects of my life be able to shirley well enough that I can do both?

31.7 and the shirt to prove it!

So I finally finished the first stage of the Distance Challenge(5k-1/2 marathon). The half marathon was really tough. We got quite a few funny looks and comments about the portable DVD player for Isabella. We had quite a group running with us for a while. Dad even had someone tell him he should patent the idea.

The first part was really tough so I had to walk some hills. After a while though my muscles started cramping so we couldn't walk anymore(because if you stop you can't start again). Some race official came up with the great idea of having the last 300 yards or so of the race be up hill. I would love to know who that is so I can egg their house. They were calling for rain so we brought Samantha so she could watch Isa if it did rain. We lucked out though and we had great weather for all 4 races so Isa got to do them all with us! We also had Samantha take a finish line picture of us but I don't have the camera so I'll add that later.

Terra was kind enough to pick up our Distance Challenge shirts for us since she lives in Charlotte. I'll take a picture and add that too. We get a jacket for doing a marathon. Soon I'll look like a pro:)

I guess we also lucked out health wise because Isa got sick a few days after the race and has been ever since so we have been treadmill bound for training which cuts down on the mileage I can do because of my knee. We are still planning on doing a marathon and it looks like it will be the myrtle beach marathon on Feb 19th. I'm super nervous and excited.

I am Definitely Cursed

I thought that when I stared having knee problems I was cursed but now I know for sure. On Wednesday morning I got up before Isa because I was going to watch our neighbors son while she went to school. He ended up being sick that morning so I had some time to myself. After a few minutes I thought I heard Isabella in her crib so I walked over to the stairs. I stood up a little fast so I leaned on the window for a minute and the next thing I knew I was laying in the floor jerking. Not seizure jerking but kind of like waving my hands and legs around. At first I had no idea what had happened. I thought maybe I had fallen asleep sitting there in the floor and then I remembered where I had really been. It was really freaky and I wasn't sure what to do, I mean I had never fainted before. I got up and called my mom and josh, they both told me to go to the doctor so I called and they worked me in.

apparently I have hypoglycemia and orthostatic hypotension which means I have low blood sugar and low blood pressure. It has only gotten this extreme because of my workout schedule and have been put on a meal plan with three meals and four snacks a day. At first I thought this would be great but after a day and a half of it I can say I am really tired of eating. I have been having trouble on my runs with getting dizzy and sick so this meal plan should take care of that. I'll keep everyone posted.

Halloween 2004

We decided to go to Raleigh for Halloween this year. Becca and Joe moved to Cary so we went down to stay with them and go to the temple. We hadn't been to the temple since I was six months pregnant so it was really fun. I miss going all the time. Hopefully that will change now that Becca and Joe live so close.

Even though we were out of town we didn't want Isa to miss Halloween altogether so we took her to the end of the trunk-or-treat at Becca's ward. She was pretty freaked out but once she realized what the people were doing she liked it. Here are some pictures.


Here she is walking into the parking lot with Daddy


Holding Aunt Becca's hand between cars


This is when she discovered they were putting candy in her pumpkin


She almost chewed through the wrapper and got the candy herself but in the end I had to help her

Her Rainy Day Workout Costume

One of our neighbors ,Shiree, let Isabella borrow this costume for Halloween. She absolutely loved it. The second we got it she wanted to put it on and wore it everyday until Halloween. She also demanded on wearing her red rain boots grandma Perkins bought her and Daddy's sweat band. Pretty cute huh?


Here she is riding on daddy. I guess since she is a horse of sorts he should be riding on her. hehe.


Her cool boots.


Getting ready for a run? Looks like you just finished.


She is about to cry in this picture because she wanted me to hold her.


There, happy girl and a mommy daughter picture.

Three Down Two To Go

Dad,Isabella, Terra and I ran our 15k the weekend before Halloween. It went pretty well. My hardest run yet of course. I am not kidding when I say that there was maybe 50-100yards on flat ground the whole 9.3 miles and it was right at the starting line. Needless to say, the hills made me really sick. I'm glad I finished though. I even got to see Ace and TJ (they sponsored the race) which was really weird. People never look the way you think they will when you picture them from their voices. My knee did ok too, even with the hills. Now we only have the half and whole marathon left.

we found out that the marathon was canceled so we had to find another one. This one is in February at myrtle beach. It should be fun. Abby is coming to run too so there will be four of us. yay!

9.3 Down 48.6 To Go

It seems like all I do now is sleep, eat, take is to play group and run. It gets pretty boring. As I have been preparing for my race this weekend I realized how many miles I have run and how many more I have to go. It gets pretty scary. I have started realizing how many miles there are between the places I drive and I start to get scared knowing how many miles I have to run. This weeks race in 9.3 so I am doubling my miles in one race.

I find it a little more comforting to think of it in terms of how many races I have to run instead of miles. In that case I'm 2 down 3 to go. Thinking I'm almost half way done is a lot easier to swallow. I will have to give you an update after this race. I have only ran more than 7 miles one other time and that was when I hurt my knee. At least I know I'm not damaging it further when it hurts. It just stinks running with a bum knee.

I have a cool explosion story to tell but josh took the card reader so I'm gonna wait until I can put pictures up too.